World Screen

WASHINGTON, June 5: A number of independently owned cable networks, including WealthTV and HDNet, are petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to support a more competitive pay-TV programming market as they battle to secure carriage on major U.S. platforms. Several channels …

BURBANK/LONDON, June 5: More than 400 hours of content from Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) will be made available on an on-demand basis to subscribers of Tiscali TV in the U.K. via a new branded service. Warner TV will …

MUNICH, June 5: The ProSiebenSat.1 Group has expanded its online portfolio with the acquisition of 100 percent of Feeem Media, which operates the female-targeted content portal Fem.com. Dr. Marcus Englert, a member of the executive board of ProSiebenSat.1 for new …

BRUSSELS, June 5: The European Commission has withdrawn its case against Sweden at the European Court of Justice after the country’s government abolished Boxer’s exclusivity on digital terrestrial broadcasting services. The Commission referred Sweden to the Court of Justice in …

CULVER CITY/HILVERSUM, June 5: Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has completed its acquisition of the Dutch formats and interactive entertainment outfit 2waytraffic. SPE first made its offer to acquire 2waytraffic for £114.3 million in March. The deal is part of SPE’s …

ENGLEWOOD/NEW YORK, June 5: Discovery Holding Company (DHC) and Advance/Newhouse Programming Partnership have reached a deal to combine their stakes in Discovery Communications, creating a new publicly traded company that will own 100 percent of Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, …

MUNICH, June 5: NBC Universal Global Networks has reached an agreement to sell its German free-to-air channel Das Vierte to Mini Movie International Channel. Mini Movie International Channel, headquartered in Luxembourg, is owned by Dmitri Lesnevski, the TV and film …

LONDON/NUREMBERG, June 4: U.K.-based Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) is to merge with Germany’s GfK to create the world’s second-largest global research group. The 50-50 joint venture will be named GfK-TNS, with expertise in both mature markets as well as emerging …

STOCKHOLM, June 4: Clara Scherman, the head of acquisitions at Sweden’s TV4 Group, shares insight into what piqued her interest at the L.A. Screenings. The TV4 Group, with nine channels, takes much of its acquired content from British and American …

NEW YORK, June 4: Yahoo! has agreed to host and stream entertainment content from CBS to its consumers on a free, ad-supported basis. As part of the deal between CBS Interactive and the Internet search engine giant, Yahoo! TV will …